Once Upon a Book
by Orlissa
Summary: Lissa has a new craze - The Twilight Saga. She is persuading Rose to read it - but what opinion the others have about this book? For Shinedine


**Once Upon a Book**

**A/N:** I have finally finished it! :) It1s a reward fic for Shinedine, who wrote the 100th review for my story A Little Bit of That, a Little Bit of This. She wanted to see a story where Rose and the gang are reading Twilight. Her first idea was a book club, but I – sorry, Shine – aborted it, because it didn't feel natural for me. So, in the end, this one-shot is come to be.

I'd like to make something clear: my opinion on the Twilight saga is nt exactly the same as any of these characters' in this story. I based their reactions on Twilight on their own characteristics, not mine.

**Rating:** K+

**Word count:** 3894

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Vampire Academy or Twilight.

You would think that after being accused of murder, travelling through half of the country, getting my best friend elected as a queen and getting shot in the chest, the universe would have pity on me, and would leave me alone for a little while.

Well, apparently, not.

It was an unreasonably sunny October morning when my newest torture started, in a form of a book, held in Lissa's hands.

"You most definitely have to read this Rose, it's simply breathtaking! The best book I have read in ages!" She said excitedly, waving her hands in an exaggerated way, almost hitting my nose with the thick, black volume. I didn't dare to ask how many books she read recently – I didn't even dare to ask how she had time to read books altogether, period.

"Okay, okay, I get it, great book," I said, holding up my hands like I was surrendering to calm her a little bit down. "What's it about, anyway?" I eyed the hands with the apple on the cover, and the wide spine with the silvery letters. Damn, this book was long.

"Well… I don't want to ruin it for you, but…" Lissa stopped for a moment, trying to figure out what to say. I was starting to get worried. "So, it's about, actually, it's about a guy, named Edward, who's a vampire-"

"Okay, you lost me here." I said, getting up from my seat on the couch, searching for my bag. Somehow, I wasn't really fond of vampire stories – I think none of us is. Vampire portrayals by humans are usually inaccurate, negative, ridiculous and outright annoying. Lissa was usually on the same opinion about it with me, sharing my negative feelings and prejudices, but now, somehow, there was something in that book that made her drop the grudge, and I couldn't help but being curious about what it was. But at the same time, I didn't change my mind about not reading vampire fiction. Never.

But then again, I didn't count on Lissa1s puppy dog eyes.

"But please, Rose, give it a try! I promise you'll like this one."

I peeked at the book in her hand. It was so damn thick.

"It would take forever for me to read it."

"That's okay – anyway, it's quite a page-turner when you really got into it." I doubted about it.

"I'll might wreck it – give it dog ears, spill coffee on it…" Lissa took a very, very good care of her books, and damaging one was like damaging a priceless painting for her.

"No problem – you can have this copy. I want to by the movie tie-in, anyway." It sparked my interest.

"So there's a movie?" watching a movie takes a whole less time than reading a book.

"There might be, but you are not allowed to watch it before reading the book. It would just ruin it."

"You are mean."

"And you are lazy."

That was the point when we run out of reasons, and started a staring contest – Lissa almost begged with her eyes, while I tried to remain determined.

It didn't last too long, though.

"Gimme that book already." I sighed. A slow, sweet smile appeared on her face as she handed me the volume.

"You are going to love it, I swear."

"Yeah, whatever." I said, as I stuffed the book into my bag.

As it turned out, it was just the first act in my torture – act two, scene one took place the next morning, situated in my favorite café in Court.

"Good morning, sunshine." I heard a very familiar voice from behind my back as I was standing in the queue. I turned around to see Christian squeeze himself into the queue behind me, upsetting some people.

"It had been good until you came along." I wanted add some acid to my words, but the upturning edges of my mouth betrayed me. "Has your bed gotten enough of you, and threw you out? I'm not used to seeing you up and around this early." Meanwhile we reached the till, and I paid for my coffee and two donuts. Christian, without asking, took one of them, and bit into it – I didn't say a word about it. I would make him pay later.

"No, actually, Lissa wanted me to stay a little linger, spend some quality time with her-"

"Okay, okay, stop!" I cut in. "Way. Too. Much. Information." I put emphasis on every word.

"Well, you was the one who brought up the topic." We reached a free table and sat down.

"No, I didn't-" I stopped midsentence and sighed. There was no point in arguing about it. "Never mind. Just spit out what you want."

Christian grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"Oh, I just wanted to ask you how well are you getting on with your new must-read book?" I swear, he actually gloated. The donut stopped halfway to my mouth.

"She's told you."

"Yep. First thing last night."

"And you are so smug now because now you have something to tease me about."

"Exactly." He beamed, leaning back in his chair. "What a clever girl you are, Rose."

I slowly smiled as an idea formed in my head – clever, indeed.

"Thanks for the compliment." I played the cool, leaning back as well. "And tell me, Sparky, how did you find the book?"

I was sure that he had read it – if Lissa was making me to read it, then she must have made him to do it too. I was expecting him to stop grinning and shyly admit that yeah, he had read it too, no matter that it was, in fact, a book for girls, but if anything, his smile just grew broader.

"Well, I didn't read the book." Okay, it surprised me a little.

"But-but…" I stuttered. "It's just not fair! Why hasn't she forced you to read it like she has done to me, huh?"

"Life's rarely fair, Rose." His smile was sly. "And to answer your question: you are the best friend, who is willing to sat through countless hours reading that monster, while I am the considerate boyfriend, who sits through the movie version with her, no matter how sappy it is." I gaped at his words.

"She let you watch the movie?"

"Forced is a better word I guess." Christian shrugged.

"She didn't let me!" I continued, not even paying attention to him.

"Sounds like you're just simply desperate to see it." Christian stated with a sly smile. I stopped for a moment; he had caught me.

"No, of course not." I tried to save the situation. "It would just simply be easier to watch it than read it." I said, feigning nonchalance.

"Whatever you say." He said, standing up. "Anyway, don't you worry – I am sure she is going to make you watch it as soon as you have finished the book." And with that, he left, leaving me with the company of one single donut.

He never paid for the one he ate, that bastard.

The second scene came that evening. Hans had asked me to bring some memos to Lissa before going back to Dimitri's and mine apartment, saying that I happened to be going that way anyway. As I stepped into Lissa's lavish suite, I was surprised to find Jill and Adrian in the main sitting room; Jill was sitting on the plush carpet next to a low coffee table, her side rested on the side of the sofa, while Adrian was half-sitting half-lying on the overstuffed couch. Between them on the table's glass surface lay half a deck of cards, clearly in the set up of Texas Hold'em, the other half deck in their hands.

"Great," I said after saying hello, as I closed the door behind me. "She's not even sixteen yet, and you're already corrupting her. What will I tell her mother when she starts robbing the casinos in Vegas?" I teased Adrian, which earned a giggle from Jill.

"Ah, she'll never do that." Shrugged Adrian. "You can clearly see whether she has good or bad cards. It's as easy to read her as an open book." He stopped for half a moment, then added for good measure "Well, maybe not that easy, but still easier than reading your handwriting." This made Jill giggle again, this time a little bit louder. He was having fun at my expense, but I didn't mind – at least we were on sort-of good terms again. He patted the seat next to him, inviting me to sit down.

"Having fun, are we, Lord Ivashkov?" I said, getting comfortable among the soft cushions.

"With you, little dhampire? Always." He lifted his empty hand, just like he wanted to click our nonexistent glasses together. "Anyway, I wanted to ask – how is your reading going?" There was a very mischievous undertone in his voice, and I saw that he just wanted to tease me about it. I didn't know from where he had learned about that book – but then again, we were in Court, and in Court, secrets rarely existed. And I also had a strong feeling that he had allied himself with Christian against me.

"Don't even mention it – I haven't even-" I didn't get the chance to finish the sentence, because Jill cut me off excitedly.

"What are you reading?" I knew that she was hoping that it was something fascinating, maybe a little scary – well, for me, a five hundred pages long book was scary.

"Oh, just something I got from Lissa." I said, trying to shrug it off, at the same time as Adrian spoke up.

"She's reading, what's the title again? Dusk, or something like that… Something to do with evening, I'm sure…" Jill's eyes went wide.

"You mean you are reading Twilight?" She looked at me with pure awe on her young face.

"Um.. thick, black book, apple on the front?" I asked uncertainly; for me it was that book. I didn't really care about the title. Jill just nodded vehemently. "Well, then yeah, I'm reading Twilight. Sort of. You see, I haven't-" Again, I couldn't finish it, because Jailbait's voice drained mine in mid-sentence.

"That's like my favorite book ever!" She exclaimed. Okay, now I really believe that she and Lissa are sisters. "I read it at least five, no, six times! It's just so beautiful when Edward takes Bella to that meadow, and all that stuff, and it's just aww…" She was obviously lost in her own imagination for a moment – which made me really question myself if I wanted to read that book. Then she snapped out of it and leaning over Adrian's lap, she grasped my hand. "You just simply have to read it as soon as you can! You are gonna love it!"

"Hm, interesting." Adrian said before I had a chance to answer, gently pushing Jill off his lap. "It's a big hit now, isn't it?" Jill nodded furiously, while I pinched the bridge of my nose. "What's it about, anyway?"

"It's about a bunch of vampires…" I muttered, but my voice was muffled by Jailbait's eager explanation.

"Well, there's this girl, Bella, who goes to live with her dad in this small town, and she meets this guy, Edward, who's totally hot and everything, but he's really mean to her, and then it turns out that-" That was the point when I stopped her.

"Wait, hold your horses! Do you want me to read that book or not?" Jill stopped talking, then shyly nodded. "Then stop describing what happens in it. I won't read it if I know every single little detail."

"Okay." She said it in a small voice, suddenly loosing all her will to speak. Suddenly, I felt a little bad for her – she wanted to talk about it very, very much. If to me, then to me. If to Adrian, well… then to Adrian. And anyway, after how he had teased me earlier, he really deserved a little punishment delivered in the form of the babbling of a fifteen-year-old, I thought.

"Um… I'll be going guys. I just wanted to drop these off." I held up the memos, picking them out of my bag. "Could you please make sure that they'll make it to Lissa?" When they nodded, I stood up. "Well, it was great talking to you guys. Just go on with whatever you were doing before I came." I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head. "No, don't do that. I don't want to see the Moroi Court in debt." Both of them laughed at it as I made my exit.

As soon as the door closed, I could hear Jill going on how superb this Twilight book is. Suddenly, I felt a little pity for Adrian.

But, as it turned out, Jill and Lissa weren't the only ones on my circle of friends who were all crazed about Twilight. Mia was too – only, she concealed it better then the other two.

Scene three took part next day while I was having my early breakfast. The weather was nice, the sun was still out, I was alone, so I decided to eat my breakfast outside, sitting on one of the tattered benches of Court. I had just bit into my overstuffed ham-cheese-tomato-mayo-salad sandwich, the infamous book in my lap, opened at the preface – I was just about to start reading -, when Mia jogged up to me. It was a newer craze of hers – she had gone jogging every morning, while the sun was still out, just to make the exercise more demanding; some days she even circled the whole Court, which was a great performance, I had to admit.

"'Morning, Rose!" She greeted me, a little bit out of breath, bending a little, supporting herself on her knees. "What are you doing?"

I waved her hello, struggling to get a rather big bite down my throat.

"Nothing important." I said when I was finally able to speak. "I was just about to start this book. Lissa is almost forcing me to read this." I held the volume up so she could have a good look at it. Her expression didn't change much, but there was something in her eyes as she took in the cover – a glint of pleasant recognition. Very pleasant.

"Oh, I see." She tried to play nonchalance. "I heard about this book. I mean, everybody heard about it. It is supposed to be very good – at least so I heard. I mean, all the romance, and the chase in the end. Very clever ending, if you ask me. And the last chapter is just simply…" she caught herself. "I mean, I heard it's good."

I looked at her, smiling slyly.

"So you have heard about it."

"Yes."

"You must have heard a lot about it, 'cause you seem to know it into details."

"It's a big hit now; everybody is talking about it." Did she really think that I couldn't pick out her self-defense?

"Are you totally sure that you haven't actually read it?" I leaned in a little and looked into her eyes. I couldn't help feeling a little smug.

"I… I mean…" She stuttered, then gave up, plopping down next to me on the bench with an exasperated sight. "Okay, you win: I read it – and loved it. I just don't want everyone to know." I looked at her, raising my eyebrows, as if asking: why? "You know, I want to keep up my new badass attitude, and it's a kind of girly book, with damsels in distress, balls – kind of -, a prince charming, glittering vampires-"

"What?" I whisper-screamed. Haven't I told you? Vampire fiction does tend to be crazy. Mia just waved, dismissing my concern.

"Read it, and you'll see."

"As I gain more details from this book, I am getting less and less certain if I want to read it." Mia smiled at this.

"I was a little skeptical about this at first, too. But then I started it, and I was hooked after fifty pages. You are gonna love this, I swear." With that, she stood up, and stretched her muscles. "But I have to go now; I still have at least two kilometers to run." She raised her outstretched hands above her head, and pulled her back backwards. "See you later, Rose. I am really curious what will you think about Twilight." And then she jogged away.

"Well, me too." I whispered to myself as I watched her figure getting smaller in the distance.

As it turned out, I still had sane friends – not ones crazed about a book – as well.

It was later that morning, as I walked into the Guardian headquarters, when I met Eddie. He was sitting behind some enormous desk – he still hadn't gotten an assignment – and was filling out some forms. I walked up to him – I had some reports to give in myself.

"Hi Eddie." I said as I put down my messenger bag on his desk, blocking his view. He looked up at me, smiling.

"Hi to you, Rose. What's up?"

"Oh, just the usual, you know." I flicked my hand, while I dug into my bag, looking for my – most likely dog-eared – report. I was just about to add some witty remark to my answer, when Eddie spoke.

"Wow, I can't believe my eyes!" He said, and reached inside my bag, pulling out Twilight. "The great Rose Hathaway is reading a novel?" He laughed. "It's not something I see everyday."

"Well, miracles do happen. Anyway, it's Lissa who's making me read it." I smiled, silently getting ready for his tirade about this book (honestly, I was almost expecting him start to praise it), but instead he asked casually.

"And is it good? What's about?"

"Well, I haven't actually started reading it yet, but-" I stopped in mid-sentence. Eddie seemed to be completely clueless about it. "You haven't read this?"

"No. Should I have?"

"You haven't even heard about this book?"

"No, I haven't. I have no idea what it is." He shook his head, not getting why I was so upset about it. "Why, should I have heard about it?"

Then I, despite myself, I leaned on his desk, threw my hand around his neck, and hugged him. Okay, it was a little bit out of line for me, I admit; but it was so refreshing finally meeting somebody who didn't tease me about it, or didn't want to convince me that Twilight was the book of the century.

My sudden outburst had apparently taken by surprise Eddie, too.

"Whoa, whoa, Rose!" He laughed. "What's going on?"

"I'm just so glad that I still have a friend who's still completely sane!"

But then again, and grand finale was still waiting for me: Dimitri.

Now, don't get me wrong – he isn't one of those fangirls – er, boys. Men. Fanmen? – who waits hours in a line squealing when the new book comes out.

Uh. Now I have to erase this mental picture from my mind as soon as possible.

Okay, so he hadn't read the book – up until I accidentally left it on display in our living room. He had a day off that day, I was no-where in sight, and, after all, he had a healthy dose of curiosity in him, so he started reading the book he suspected to belong to me. By the time I got home, he was already more than halfway through the book.

"Hi, I'm ho-" I cut the sentence in half upon seeing him sitting all comfortable on the couch, his feet rested on the coffee table, the infamous book in his hands. "What are you reading?" I asked, surprised.

He closed the book, leaving one of his fingers between the pages, and spied at the cover.

"Um, Twilight?" It was more like a question than a statement. "I thought it was yours."

I dropped my bag where I was standing, walked over to the couch and plopped down next to him, cuddling close to his side. With his free hand he reached out, held my chin, tilting it upwards, and planted a kiss on my lips.

"Actually it's Lissa's, but yeah, I am supposed to read it." I said when we pulled apart. "Anyway, when did you change from western to vampire fiction?

"I didn't. I'm just broadening my knowledge." A soft smile played on his lips.

"And does it worth your time?" I poked the book. "I rephrase: does it worth my time?"

He chuckled.

"I think you'll find it amusing. It's a really fascinating thing to read." I folded my legs under me and nuzzled my cheek to his neck.

"So you like it?" I teased him. "Beware! I won't go to midnight signings or whatsoever with you."

"No, no!" He openly laughed. "I mean, it's not that bad, but I have read way better books."

"Like your westerns."

"Exactly." He put a bookmark between the pages, and set the book down on the table. "But as I said, it's fascinating. I can feel for the protagonist." I raised my eyebrows quizzically.

"You mean the girl?" During one of Lissa's seemingly endless rants about this book in the last few days, I managed to understand that it's told from a teenage girl's perspective.

"No, I mean the guy. The vampire."

"Oh…" I started, but I caught myself. "You mean the glittery guy? Comrade, I am really starting to worry about you. Are you feeling alright?" I put my hand mockingly on his forehead. He batted it away with an easy smile.

"Forget about the glittering part for a moment – that's hilarious, I admit." He smiled at me, and started fiddling with my fingers. "What I mean is that I can completely understand his actions."

"Could you please elaborate? You know, there's somebody who still has no idea what the book is about." He sighed, but went on.

"He's in love with this girl – and he knows that the girl likes him too. But he also knows that it would be not just improper, but completely dangerous and impossible to be with her. Yet, he is trying, against the odds, hoping the best, because he just can't let the girl go."

"Wow… that's…" That was like he was talking about us. Like he was talking about himself. Even though I didn't finish the sentence, he, like always, seemed to know what I wanted to say.

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." He entwined his fingers with mine. Comfortable silence fell between us.

"You know what?" I said after a few moments. "Suddenly, I feel a very strong urge to read this book. I think I'll start right now." And I already reached for the book.

"That's alright for me." He said, and positioned himself so that he was lying along the coach, with me sitting between his legs. I held the book in my hands, and leaned back, lying on his chest, my head resting on his shoulder. I opened the book, and though I couldn't see him, I knew that he was reading the lines over my shoulder.

_ I'd never given much thought to how I would die-though I'd had reason enough in the last few months-but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this…_

**Edit 17/8/11: Upon reading it one more time, I found some small grammatical mistakes and mistypings - I fixed them**


End file.
